Nobe Display Now With Apple M1 and NDI Support – Remote Color Grading Made Easy

Color Grading

by Georg GilsteinAugust 17^th, 2021

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Time in Pixels released an update on their Nobe Display OFX plugin supporting the new Apple M1 Macs and the NDI version 5 protocol. The latter allows for remote color grading over various video communication platforms.

Nobe Display has been around for a couple of years. The plugin was made to have an external reference window that you could put on a second monitor without the need of external hardware. It can also use your monitor’s ICC profile or a 3D LUT. Note: As of version 16.1, DaVinci Resolve has its own native implementation for exactly this purpose: Video Clean Feed can send a full-screen view to an external monitor connected to your computer.

For connecting a pro-grade SDI reference monitor or projector you still need external hardware (such as the Blackmagic Design UltraStudio line) of course.

So it’s about time that Nobe Display offers some new tricks, right? This time around, that trick is called: NDI.

What’s new in Nobe Display NDI?

With the new update, it’s possible to run Nobe Display natively on Apple M1 Macs now.

Not only that, but in my opinion, the much bigger update is NDI version 5 support. That means not only can you monitor your video feed on the same device, but you also can send an IP video and audio stream over your network. Alternatively, you can also use the NDI stream as a virtual webcam source in most video communication software like Zoom, Skype, Teams, and more.

NDI is a video stream standard that allows you to use real-time, ultra-low latency video on existing IP video networks. So you can also stream your video inside your IP network to another device. NDI was made by NewTek, who also produce the popular TriCaster broadcast video mixers.

This seems to me like an ideal tool for remote color grading. You can stream your graded feed to your clients or colleagues and let them see a high-quality picture. Keep in mind that tools like Zoom will compress your video feed to a small bitrate and 720p.

Nobe Display NDI works on the Color and Edit page, so remote video editing will work as well.

The maker of Nobe Display, Time in Pixels, specializes in color grading plugins. Additionally to Nobe Display, they also offer the Nobe Color Remap plugin (similar to the Color Warper in Resolve, with more functions), Nobe OmniScope (various scope types), and False Color 3. All of them are available as OFX plugins. They can be imtegrated into DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and more.

What can you do with an NDI signal?

There are various ways you can go on with the NDI video signal: You can grab the signal in OBS Studio and send it to YouTube or your own streaming server. Or you use the NDI Virtual Input tool to create a virtual webcam, allowing you to use the signal in all types of software using webcam feeds.

You will have to install the NDI Tools before using the NDI functions. They are free and downloadable on the official NDI page. You can find more info about the setup in Nobe Display’s documentation: Nobe Display NDI guide

The OFX plugin works on Windows and Mac (both Intel and Apple Silicon), there is no Linux support for this plugin.

The plugin is on sale now until Aug 22 for 39.99€ on Time in Pixel’s website, with the regular price being 59.99€. If you don’t need the NDI functions, the regular Nobe Display plugin costs 29.99€.

Find out more about Nobe Display on their website: Time in Pixels

What kind of tools do you use for remote post-production? Let us know in the comments.